MADBALLS (Marvel Star Comics Pub; 1986-1988)

#1 (9/1986; FIRST PRINTING;

First COMICS appearance of the MADBALLS (Aargh, Crack Head, Dust Brain, Horn Head, Occulus Orbus, Screamin' Meemie, Skull Face, Slobulus)!

Cover depicts; Horn Head; Screamin' Meemie; Occulus Orbus; Dust Brain; Slobulus; Aargh; Crack Head; Skull Face; Dr. Viktor Frankenbeans; Simon Snivelitch;

( A ) MADBALLS in The Evil Dr. Frankenbeans, 11 page story;

Madballs [Aargh; Crack Head; Dust Brain; Horn Head; Occulus Orbus; Screamin' Meemie; Skull Face; Slobulus];

Appearances by; Truck Driver; Tommy; Tyrone; Dawn; Oxford; Chin; Waldo; Lynn; Beauregard; Dr. Viktor Frankenbeans; Simon Snivelitch;

GCD Synopsis; The Madballs are accidentally created when falling into RUIN Labs' toxic pond. They quickly befriend Tommy and several other children.

Realizing that he is somehow responsible for their creation, Frankenbeans plots with Snivelitch to capture them;

( B ) MADBALLS in Cornered, 11 page story;

Madballs [Aargh; Crack Head; Dust Brain; Horn Head; Occulus Orbus; Screamin' Meemie; Skull Face; Slobulus];

Appearances by; Truck Driver Tommy; Tyrone; Dawn; Oxford; Chin; Waldo; Lynn; Beauregard; Colonel Corn; Cornball (dies); Corn Stalks;

GCD Synopsis; Colonel Corn, a corn cob mutated by the RUIN Labs' toxic pod, captures Tommy and the other children. Colonel Corn explains to them that he has been "corn-sidering" taking over the world. Fed up with his constant corn-related puns, the Madballs defeat him by forcing him to pop his kernels. Corn survives as a cob and watches as Tommy and the other kids eat his popped corn.

Michael Gallagher story;

Howie Post and Roberta Edelman art;

Wikipedia;

** Madballs is a series of Toy Foam Balls originally created by AmToy, a subsidiary company of American Greetings (now Cloudco Entertainment) in the mid-1980s, later being revived by Art Asylum (2007–2008) and Just Play, Inc. (2017–2019). The balls incorporated gross-out humor and each was given a character synopsis and an odd name. The toyline expanded into a franchise with a comic book series, two direct-to-video animated cartoons, and a video game for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Commodore 64;

*** Original series MADBALLS included;

Screamin' Meemie: A screaming baseball with a large tongue;

Slobulus: A drooling green creature with one eye hanging out of its socket;

Aargh: A one-eyed, blue-skinned, Frankenstein monster-esque creature with stitching all over its face;

Horn Head: A horned cyclops with a nose ring (which is chained to its ear in the Art Asylum era);

Dust Brain: A mummy with rotting teeth and wrinkly teal skin;

Oculus Orbus: A bloodshot eyeball (later sporting a mouth in the Just Play era);

Skull Face: A skull with large eye sockets sporting tiny red eyes, a big set of teeth, and a partially exposed brain (which is depicted as a sentient being named Lobe in the Just Play era);

Bash Brain: A gory zombie head with a partially exposed brain. This Madball was originally named "Crack Head," but was later renamed "Bash Brain," due to the unpleasant connotations of crackhead as a slang term for a crack cocaine addict.

** CARTOONS; Unlike many high-profile toylines at the time, the Madballs did not have an accompanying television series. They did, however, have two direct-to-home video cartoons released by Nelvana.

( A ) The first one, released in 1986, was a 22-minute episode called Madballs: Escape from Orb in which the titular characters are a rock and roll band who performs across the galaxy but heads for Earth as music is illegal on their home planet, Orb.[16] The video also featured a female, cartoon-exclusive Madball named Freakella, modeled after the Bride of Frankenstein. It was directed by Laura Shepherd and written by Heather MacGillvray and John de Klein.

( B ) The second one, released in 1987, was another 22-minute episode called Madballs: Gross Jokes that was a series of jokes and skits performed by the Madballs.[17] Both of these releases are only available on VHS and are not yet available on either DVD or Blu-ray.

** CGC; NEAR MINT, 9.4, with WHITE Pages = $119.00;